Britcar 24 Hours: Hour 10 Update

As the attrition continued to take its toll on the premier class runners the Austrian Jet Alliance team did what they had long threatened to do and made the lead their own, running when the technically faster cars struck problems.

The car – which sports a Austrian-German-Danish-British driver squad – held a comfortable lead over the MJC Ferrari, a ninety second lead extending to nearly two minutes when the safety car was called out once more for the stranded Brunswick Automotive BMW, the car being towed in with no sign of damage having stopped on the Hanger Straight.

The bunching up behind the safety car squeezed the Porsche's lead to just 50 seconds at the close of the hour, the lead pair six laps clear of the Neil Garner Porsche which tops the GT4 runners in third overall, two laps ahead of the Intersport BMW and four ahead of the AMR Jota Sport entry – the top five showing stunning consistency, each of them running almost trouble free up to now.

The Topcats Racing Mosler – the only example still running competitively – suffered another setback, a thankfully brief pitstop that involved working on the front of the car. The team maintained sixth overall and second in class, eleven laps behind the Ferrari.

The Team LNT Ginetta continue to lead the charge for the production class, twelve laps ahead of the Mardi Gras Honda Integra, which is on the same lap as the no.86 Mazda MX5, both of the Mazda Cars entered convertibles still running – the no.87 car in 35th place.

The tenth hour also marked the end of an eventful week for Rollcentre Racing. Having bounced back from an off earlier in the race the team had been battling an unknown electrical problem and the smell of burning in the cockpit. The team tried to locate, and then fix the problem, but the mystery fault on the new GT Cup specification Mosler proved elusive leaving Martin Short with no option but to retire the car.

Towards the end of the BMW related safety car there were also the first signs of mist – a traditional problem at Britcar 24 Hour races – and though it lifted as soon as it seemed to threaten it is worth mentioning that if the mist on Sunday morning is at the same level as Saturday it will be an almost certain race suspension.